Wednesday July 3rd,
The kids started the morning with a couple of summer school classes while we packed. We picked them up at school and were on our way. We ate lunch while we drove and everything was going fine the first 2.5 hours. All of the sudden the tire pressure light came on in the van. The "ding" gave me a jolt, but I quickly calmed. We have had some tire pressure issues for a while and I asked Brandon if it had to do with the very hot weather we had driven into. He wasn't sure but said it was probably fine. After the "ding" I noticed that the van seemed harder to drive. I thought it was probably windy outside. Then we heard a noise and I asked Brandon if that was us and he said we should pull over as soon as possible. We had a flat tire getting flatter by the second. We did safely pull over on the shoulder and I got the flashers on immediately. We were on a the side of a very busy interstate on July 3rd which is a pretty busy travel day I think. We sat a minute and evaluated our options. The kids unbuckled and we quickly told them to buckle back up. Every time a car sped by fast the whole van rocked. We don't have AAA but our insurance has roadside assistance. We called them, but it was slow process and it seemed that they were planning to send a tow truck and we could just as easily have called a tow truck ourselves. Morale was very low in the van. My anxious child was VERY anxious and needed his hand held and constant soothing. I tried to remain calm and keep the kids quiet so Brandon could talk with the roadside person. Eventually he noticed a police turn around thing in the middle of the road just ahead. He told me that we should try to drive there on the shoulder and see if we could cross into it. We were able to do that successfully! This was a MUCH safer area for us to be stopped and for Brandon to put on the spare tire. We got the kids started on a movie which helped the anxiety to be much less. While Brandon switched the tire I was able to find a Midas about 7 miles away so we could get a new tire or tire repair and be on our way. We safely and cautiously drove on the spare to the town and noticed was a large tire place before the Midas so we went there instead. We were in and out in about 20 minutes. That was just enough time for us to walk next door to the Wendy's for a bathroom and small treat. Amazingly, the whole ordeal only added one extra hour to our journey and we all were safe. We are so thankful that it happened where and when it did. Brandon impressed me with his knowledge, his calm under pressure, and his joy through the whole process. I sure do love him.
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| Safely in the median! |
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| So thankful for library movies! |
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| A much better distance from the traffic for a tire change. |
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| Our Hero! |
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| A perfectly located tire service. |
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| Bonus, a motor cycle police officer who was friendly and chatty! |
After the craziness of the drive it felt extra good to arrive in MO and see family. We ate dinner soon after we arrived which is was huge and tasty blessing. M and A played a little chess and then M went down to A's to sleep. The kids were very eager to go to A and A's house and meet their new kittens. We couldn't believe how tiny they were!
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| M: I am glad that A likes chess. |
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| M: I am in love! |
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| M: They are so soft and playful! |
Thursday July 4th,
While M was sleeping at A's, little A was sleeping at Tom and Judy's with T. They were up and dressed for the lake pretty early. We were watching some possible rainy weather come in and evaluating the lake trip. I managed to get in a sticky and sweaty walk (which I love) and we headed out to the lake before lunchtime.
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| The both love to play piano. |
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| So focused! |
Sidenote, since the above photo was taken in July T has really been pulling out her hair. She has quite a bald spot and I often wonder what it looked like before. This photo clearly shows me that she had quite thick hair before the pulling.
Once we got all packed up we headed to the lake. We ended up taking three vehicles and leaving a slightly different times, but we were together, all ten of us. Such a special blessing!
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| T: We ate some food before boating. |
The sky looked very ominous. We heard some thunder. We were not sure if storms were coming or going. I finally went and asked a marina worker and we determined the bad weather had ended and we were good to go.
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| The girls were ready! |
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| Tom is such a safe and steady driver! |
At first younger A didn't want to go too fast, but then the more they tubed the braver she became. It ended up being T and decided she had enough earlier than the rest of the crew.
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| All of the kids tubing with Brandon. |
There was a lot of bickering about who had what tube. At first the one with the hole was the coveted tube. Then it was discovered that they could balance on the flat tubes and suddenly no one wanted the tube with the hole.
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| Impressive! |
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| Outside the wake. |
Sometimes I laugh as I take pictures because it looks so much the same from year to year.
Here are some views from inside the boat.
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| Adrienne and Chris usually sit up front. |
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| I will admit that the waves and sun make it pretty hard to stay awake! |
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| The lake isn't Judy's favorite thing, but she comes with and enjoys making memories with us and I am so thankful! |
T got a little bored in the boat, but discovered how much she loves feeling the water with her hand and was in full joy mode! We have countless photos of her joy so the fact that I am only sharing six should be impressive! Sometimes life is hard for this one, so I will always treasure this time of her fully engaged in the happiness of boating!
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| T: This is fun! |
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| Four happy kids! |
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| T: I love the feel of the water on my hand. |
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| T: The water! |
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| T: The wind! |
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| T: I don't want it to end! |
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Enjoying watching the tubers and T!
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The kids are much braver than they were other summers. There was a lot of whipping around and being outside the wake! These are things I used to do before my back complained too much! I love that they get to experience this too!
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| Our view for hours!! |
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| M: I still like to drive a bit at the end of the day. |
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| Three generations of back rubs at the end of the night. |
Friday July 5th,
We took it easy on Friday. I went on a very hot walk. We headed into town for dentist visits, and got ready for a photo shoot at Judy's sister's house. We arrived early and took some cousin photos. They all turned out so well. Brandon's aunt Valerie gets the photo credit for most of these awesome shots!
Before the photo shoot we had some moments of chaos trying to decide who was going to wear what. Thankfully T1 arrived and lightened M's heart!
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M: I was so excited to see T1!
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Finally it was time for the photoshoot. First we did some bench photos.
Then we moved over to a bridge. Such fun poses!
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| Looking carefree! |
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| A fun one seeing a bit more of their personalities. |
Here are the best of the family photos! Two different poses, great pictures, great family!
After the photo shoot the rest of the family arrived and we talked and played and ate and met a new puppy. It was a very nice (and late) night with family!
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| M: I really love big T1! |
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| T: A and I always have fun together! |
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| T: I love being with T2 |
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| Brandon and Adrienne truly enjoy each other! This is one of my deep hopes for my children in adulthood. |
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| T: So they have a robot vacuum and A and I loved playing with it! |
After dinner there was a bit of arm wrestling! T1 is such a good sport.
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| T: I almost had him! |
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| M: I was thinking strong, but T1 is big! |
We thought we were ending the night with a baseball game in the yard. The tree was in the middle of the ball field.
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| Getting organized. |
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| Something doesn't look quite right here. |
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| Lots of fun! |
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| Looking good M! |
After it got too dark to play we can inside to say goodbyes and were surprised that Brandon's cousin E arrived with her sweet puppy. M and T were thrilled to meet this pup.
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| Such a sweet dog! |
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| M: I sure love Uncle Curtis! |
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T: Puppy cuddles are a great way to end the day!
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Saturday July 6th,
The morning started slow once again with walks and pancakes and kids in constant sleepover mode.
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| T: First we had to pour the powder in the bowls. |
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| T: Then we had to pose for a picture... |
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| T: Then we added the milk and posed again. |
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| T: Time to stir it all together. |
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| Pancake shapes taste the best! |
Finally we got everything ready and headed to Curtis' farm for a day of fun with dirt bikes, a parade, rockets, baseball, hotdogs and smores, and fireworks!
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